One of those really annoying questions which you think you can answer
straightaway and two hours' of searching later have to admit that it's not
so simple as it sounds. I started off convinced that it was JOHN PITTS who
reportedly paid for pedlars to collect songs from the countryside, and that
it was Leslie Shepard who had written of it. But although Leslie nearly says
it, he doesn't come right out with it (quotes given below in case they're of
interest.).
So - back to Catnach. I have also failed to find the quote. But Frank
Kidson, in his English Folk-Song & Dance (1915) writes - "He put forth an
enormous quantity of ballads and songs, and seems to have not only employed
men to write songs on topical events, but also to have for the first time
put into print many a stray folk-song which the ballad-singers, who flocked
to buy his ballads, would recite to him. This latter fact accounts for a
certain amount of ignorant mistakes that occur in the text" (p.84).

Leslie Shepard on ballad-printers in general: "Other writers have stated
that nineteenth century balladmongers rewrote the traditional material for
broadside publishers who paid them a shilling apiece for such songs, but the
easiest way to earn the money was surely to put down the words exactly as
heard in travelling through the country..." (p.78) and "....pot-poets were
hired to write doggerel on any topical event, or to recall some country
folk-song..." (p.79) [The Broadside Ballad, 1962].
"These ballad singers must have collected traditional songs during their
travels and sold them to publishers like Pitts..." (p.46) [John Pitts...,
1969].
"Pitts was a traditionalist.... He collected folk songs and ballads from the
Irish immigrants of Seven Dials..." (p.70) [History of Street Literature,
1973].

Steve Roud


----- Original Message -----
From: David Atkinson <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, October 07, 2000 1:36 PM
Subject: James Catnach


In Folk Song in England, p. 28, A. L. Lloyd says that the broadside printer
James Catnach 'is said to have paid men to collect ballads from singers in
country taverns', predictably citing no reference. I can't find this in
either of Charles Hindley's books about Catnach and the Catnach Press, which
I have skimmed fairly thoroughly but must admit I have not read word for
word from cover to cover. Can anyone give me a reference? Have I missed it
in Hindley, or is it elsewhere, or is it Lloyd's imagination? It is a
reasonable assumption but needs some sort of support.

David Atkinson
[log in to unmask]
19 Bedford Road
London N2 9DB
England
Tel 020 8444 1137




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